Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway inaugural Camp in Dambulla

Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd. conducted the first coaching camp for budding young regional cricketers under the ‘Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway’ initiative in Dambulla under the close supervision of Aravinda De Silva, from April 4-6.

In a joint statement to media, Basil Gadzios, Country Manager for Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Limited and Manish Chaturvedi, the Country Manager, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Coca-Cola Far East Limited stated: “Cricket is a sport that has brought, and can bring in a lot of repute and credit to Sri Lanka. Besides, Sri Lanka is a cricket friendly nation and loves to engage in the sport; be it by watching or by participating in the game. Moreover, Coca-Cola is synonymous with supporting sports wherever the Company has a presence and in Sri Lanka we have extended our assistance to support many sporting events. Therefore, we are committed to uplift and support the community we operate in, Coca-Cola decided to launch this program to help unearth the hidden cricketing talent.

“We admire and appreciate the encouragement and co-operation we received from eminent yester year cricketing stars such as Arjuna Ranatunga, Duleep Mendis and Aravinda de Silva in making Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway a reality. Further we also wish to invite all young cricket players to join with us and learn the latest techniques and methods practiced at international levels from our very own cricketing experts and make Sri Lanka proud in the future.”

“Coca-Cola has had a long standing relationship with Sri Lanka Cricket. With the launch of the Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway program, we have reiterated our commitment for the game and initiated a plan to groom up and coming future stars. While supporting the game we also believe this would undeniably reinforce the brand attributes thus promoting the positive and fun side of life which Coke stands for,” said Dusty Alahakoon, Country Marketing Manager for Coca-Cola, Sri Lanka.

Discussing the mechanics and the development of the program so far De Silva, Chairman of the Aravinda De Silva Cricket Foundation and also the administrator of Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway said, “The camps are held in the form of Regional Cricket Clinics. Selected students of the district will participate in a 3 day clinic mastering the rudiments of the game. Six such camps will be held island wide.”

High performance and consistency will be the criteria for selecting the students for this program. District records held by respective students will also assist in the selection process. Additional public applications sent with an endorsement of the school principal, master in charge and the coach will also be looked at but selection will be based on the applicant’s skill, talent and past performance. Children who are in the age group 15 – 17 years (15 years as on 01.01.08 and not attained 18 years as at 31.12.08) are eligible to apply and a total of 72 will be selected for each clinic; 60 from records and 12 through applications.

In addition to the formal ground training, the organisers have brought in some value adding features also to give a boost to the event. Among them would be video presentation on the game of cricket, review sessions, camp fires, interactive sessions, etc. Apart from this all players who participate in the camp will be given a comprehensive CD that consist of footage that has been captured while he was undergoing training, which the organisers believe will help players to identify and rectify their playing patterns. This is a breakthrough technology that is being given to the first time to students.

Further cricket camps scheduled are: 2nd camp – Colombo, 3rd camp – Kandy, 4th camp – Galle, 5th camp – Katunayake, 6th camp – Colombo.